They did what?

With all the billions spent on computerized wargames since 1945, Americas most efficient military operation in this century was initially planned using a manual wargame (Gulf Strike) that could be bought by anyone in most hobby stores for under fifty dollars.

I have not been able to find independent verification that they actually used this board game in planning Desert Storm, but falling back on a working, usable method instead of an non-working “perfect” solution would be very typical of what I hear about what happens in wartime vs. peacetime in the military.

Update: There is another article, also at StrategyPage.com, with many more details about board games/simulation games being used to plan real military operations.